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PAX 2011 Redux

This year, I was fortunate enough to inherit a 3-day pass to PAX Prime 2011, courtesy of my long time friend and compatriot, Nick Hernandez.

Even though I’ve seen the various PAX episodes on PAtv, but nothing prepared me for the sheer magnitude of the expo.

To give you an example of what I’m talking about, here is a picture of the demo area for the game Prototype 2. You can see, they didn’t just put up a projector to demo stuff… they built an entire helicopter prop with sounds… and this was on the tame side as far as booths go.

Probably the most extreme example of commercial promotion of a francise was Halo Fest. Basically, it was a mini convention …. within a convention! There were complex dioramas.. scale vehicles like this Warthog.. and TONS of space dedicated do game play.

This isn’t to say that PAX is not just some orgy of AAA title marketing… there are a LOT of for-the-community things… like the Classic Console Freeplay. Ever want to play an original NES game but couldn’t afford it as a kid? This is the place for you.

All in all, my PAX experience was awesome. I am totally going back next year. Period.